Tian Ji: the six-rung ladder

Six rungs, not twelve

Tian Ji (天機) is the second star of the Zi Wei sequence, and it always sits one place before Zi Wei. The Miao/Wang table printed in the second juan of Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (紫微斗數全書) grades it in opposite pairs of branches, so twelve positions make only six rungs.

Open the full-size diagram

Ladder sketch: grades are the juan 2 Miao/Wang table, which iztro 2.6.0 matches on these twelve cells; co-residents come from the placement verse.

Reading from the top: Rat and Horse are Miao (廟), Rabbit and Rooster Wang (旺), Tiger and Monkey De (得地), Dragon and Dog Li (利益), Snake and Pig Ping (平和), and Ox and Goat Xian (落陷). Beside each rung is the other major star in the palace: Ju Men (巨門) on Rabbit and Rooster, Tai Yin (太陰) on Tiger and Monkey, Tian Liang (天梁) on Dragon and Dog, and Tian Ji alone on the remaining three. The star table of iztro 2.6.0 agrees with the book on all twelve cells.

Tiger and Monkey share one rung; the co-resident tells them apart

Tian Ji has only three possible co-residents: Tai Yin on Tiger and Monkey, Ju Men on Rabbit and Rooster, Tian Liang on Dragon and Dog, while the six positions Rat, Horse, Snake, Pig, Ox and Goat are solitary. The Tian Ji entry in juan 2 writes exactly these three pairs ("Rabbit and Rooster, Wang, with Ju Men; Tiger and Monkey, De, with Tai Yin; Dragon and Dog, Li, with Tian Liang"), which matches the computed layout above.

Bring in the grades of the co-resident from the same table and the three pairs look like this:

Only the Tiger/Monkey pair is pulled apart by the co-resident: Tai Yin is Wang at Tiger and only Li at Monkey. Ju Men on Rabbit and Rooster is Miao on both, and Tian Liang on Dragon and Dog is Miao on both, so even the partner cannot separate the two positions. To tell them apart you have to leave this table: which branch holds the Life palace of the chart, what this position is called, and who stands in its three-sides-four-directions.

What the book writes in Tian Ji's columns

Juan 1 opens its answer to "what does Tian Ji govern" with this sentence:

Tian Ji is Wood, the third star of the Southern Dipper, a good star that adds to reckoning. Its qi later turns to "goodness"

The catalog in juan 2 gives the same star as "Tian Ji, Wood, Southern Dipper, turns into goodness, ruler of the Siblings palace". Four items sit side by side: Wood, third star of the Southern Dipper (南斗), the qi title "goodness" (化善), and a pairing with the Siblings palace. The engine behind the site charts, iztro 2.6.0, records Wood and Yin in its star table and leaves out the Dipper and the palace pairing.

Master Yuchan in juan 1 compresses grades into two words:

In Miao and Wang it has strength; in a sunken place it has none.

The table has seven grades and this sentence touches only the two ends. Which side De, Li and Ping fall on, it does not say, and there is no need to supply that for it. Juan 2 also holds a list headed "stars falling into idle palaces", and Tian Ji is written there at one position only: Snake. In the grade table Snake reads Ping, which is the second rung from the bottom of the ladder.

From one Tian Ji to the whole chart

The placement verse "Zi Wei, Tian Ji, going the reverse way beside it" means that stepping back one branch from Zi Wei gives Tian Ji. Turned around, one branch after Tian Ji is Zi Wei. With Tian Ji known, all fourteen major-star positions can be worked out. The six pairs of positions run through like this:

Two more small problems are worth trying. Tian Ji at Ox: Zi Wei at Tiger, the Ox position is Xian, and Tian Ji stands alone. Tian Ji at Tiger: Zi Wei at Rabbit, the co-resident is Tai Yin, Tian Ji is De and Tai Yin is Wang. On the chart with Tian Ji at Rooster the opposite Rabbit has no major star; how to borrow from the opposite palace in such a case is explained in empty palaces and borrowed stars.

Three moves for reading Tian Ji

1. 1

   Give the position, then the grade

   Say "Tian Ji at Monkey, De in the juan 2 table": branch and source together let a reader return to the same cell.

2. 2

   Ask who else is in the palace

   Only Tiger/Monkey, Rabbit/Rooster and Dragon/Dog come with a partner. Any other pairing on a chart suggests rechecking the birth data and settings used to cast it.

3. 3

   Past Tiger and Monkey, switch to palace names

   If opposite positions carry one grade, ask which branch holds the Life palace and what this position is called.

Zi Wei sits one place after Tian Ji, so Zi Wei and its twelve landing points is the natural companion piece; next in the six-star order comes Tai Yang.